Mother gives birth to baby mid-air on transatlantic United flight

The mother was traveling from Accra, Ghana, to Washington, D.C., when she started having contractions. The flight was halfway across the Atlantic when she went into labor.

Luckily, a doctor and a United flight attendant, who is also a nurse, were on board to assist during the delivery.

“The delivery was uneventful other than being at 30,000 feet,” United Airlines said in a statement to ABC News.

Paramedics were ready to meet the plane when the almost 12-hour flight landed at Dulles International Airport in D.C.

One United employee greeted the mother with a balloon and handwritten card that read: “On behalf of the United team at Washington Dulles, congratulations on your baby boy!”

The mother and newborn baby were were greeted with gifts from United on their arrival into Washington D.C.
© United Airlines The mother and newborn baby were were greeted with gifts from United on their arrival into Washington D.C.
Sunday’s delivery is not the first time a baby has been born in mid-air.

In April, somewhere over the Pacific, a woman who didn’t know she was pregnant gave birth to a baby boy on a Delta Air Lines flight.

MORE: Woman gives birth on flight to Hawaii with help of doctor, NICU nurses
Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga was flying from Salt Lake City to Honolulu for a vacation when she gave birth to her son, Raymond.

He arrived early at just 29 weeks gestation.

A doctor from Hawaii and three neonatal intensive care unit nurses from North Kansas City Hospital were also on board to help Mounga deliver her baby.

a man and a woman sitting on a bed: Dr. Dale Glenn poses for a photo with Lavi Mounga and Raymond at Kapi’olani Medical Center, May 1, 2021.
© Hawaii Pacific Health Dr. Dale Glenn poses for a photo with Lavi Mounga and Raymond at Kapi’olani Medical Center, May 1, 2021.
They described how challenging it was to care for both patients in a small confined space like an airplane. They also had to improvise on tools, using shoelaces to tie and cut the umbilical cord and an Apple Watch to monitor the baby’s heart rate.

Many U.S. airlines do not allow women to fly domestically after they are 36 weeks pregnant. Some international flights will restrict travel after 28 weeks.

ABC News